


Ask Me Why

by leigh57



Category: 24
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-15
Updated: 2012-01-15
Packaged: 2017-10-29 14:49:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/321028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leigh57/pseuds/leigh57





	Ask Me Why

She couldn’t adjust to the silence.

It wasn’t the absence of sound. From where she sat on the king-sized bed, a flannel-covered pillow (plain heather grey – that’s what she got sending Ethan to Bed Bath & Beyond by himself) behind her back, she could hear the hum of the dryer (occasionally punctuated with rattling when a button hit the metal), the insistent smack of raindrops bombarding the window, the intermittent drip from the kitchen as the Keurig brewed her a single cup of hot chocolate, and the barely audible voices from the television she left on CNN almost around the clock.

So there was noise, but noise that made nothing happen. After years of living in an artificially accelerated world, having time to notice the whirr of the dryer and the fizzing of the coffeemaker was . . . anticlimactic.

Everyone had always waited for her; now it was her turn to wait.

Irritated, she muted the TV (she’d seen the headlines six or seven times this evening) and picked up her book. _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_ \-- she remembered enjoying it in college. Tonight, even Shakespearean banter couldn’t distract her.

She pushed away the down comforter and went to get her hot chocolate.

_________________________

“Allison.”

She opened her eyes. Ethan was sitting on the edge of the bed, his fingers chilly as he wrapped them around hers.

“I guess you took me seriously when I told you not to wait up.” He grinned, but his face was ashy and exhausted.

“I was reading!” she exclaimed.

“I see. You found Hermia and Lysander that gripping?” He loosened his tie.

“ _You_ had better watch it, or you’ll be sleeping on the couch.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He leaned forward and kissed her, tossing her that smile that momentarily erased forty years of nights like these. “You should try one of the Nelson DeMille books I unpacked yesterday.”

“The man is a reactionary idiot. I can’t believe you read him!” She squeezed his hand. “How did the meeting go? Did McCabe back down when Pete showed him the new figures?”

“Completely. You were right about letting the data speak for itself.” Ethan walked to the closet, talking over his shoulder as he hung up his jacket. “We’re meeting tomorrow night to work out a proposal.”

“Did you get any new intel from Syria?” The final syllable hadn’t even left her mouth before she wished that words were like that measuring tape Henry used to keep in the top drawer of his desk – retractable with the push of a button.

“Allison, I can’t-”

“I know. I _know_.” She rubbed the edge of her blue satin pajamas between her fingers. “I’m sorry. I still . . . forget. Sometimes.”

“I don’t.” He pulled on a t-shirt that said NAVY in large blue block letters. Pulling back the covers, he slid into bed but stopped short of touching her. He always knew when she wasn’t finished speaking, even if she didn’t.

“Do they-” She played with the sheet, trying to figure out how to phrase her question. “Treat you differently, now that . . . “

“I live with you?” he finished for her.

“You live with me,” she echoed.

“Yes. Little things.” He shook his head. “It’ll stop within a week. You think any of these people have an attention span long enough to sustain interest in this?”

“Has the press asked you about it?” She looked up at the TV. The headlines were running again. It was strange to watch them on one small screen instead of five large ones.

“Yes. When I bore them with ‘No comment’ long enough, they’ll forget about it, too. Why are you this concerned all of the sudden when it’s after midnight and we’re both exhausted? We had this conversation a minimum of twenty-five times before we decided.”

She fell silent. The dryer must have been finished, because she couldn’t hear the buttons anymore.

“Allison.”

“Yes?”

“It’s worth it. Ask me why.”

She laughed – it was game they’d played for years, though not on a personal level until recently.

“Why?”

He reached out and pulled her toward him, tugging until her head landed on his chest. “Because I’m _exactly_ where I want to be.”


End file.
